The Bible is boring when I read it just because I have to. The Bible is boring when I read it for ten minutes every day so that I can say that I read it for ten minutes every day. The Bible is boring when I spend my time looking for the ways that I am messed up. The Bible is boring when I feel like I’m walking into the middle of a conversation and I don’t know anyone that is involved and I can’t figure out who is talking to whom about what. The Bible is boring when no one ever stops to explain to me what is going on.

The Bible gets less boring when I stop thinking of it as one long string of words and start thinking about the different writers and stories and kinds of writing. The Bible gets less boring when I stop trying to live up to someone else’s learning style or personality. The Bible gets less boring when I stop thinking that I ought to be able to understand it without some help.

One day, after the wall around Jerusalem had been rebuilt by Nehemiah and others (Why was did it need to be rebuilt? Why did Nehemiah care?), the people in the city gathered to hear Ezra read the Book of the Law of Moses (Who was Ezra? What was the Law of Moses?). Ezra stood on a wooden platform so that the crowd could hear him. Then from daybreak til noon, Ezra read from the book.

But he wasn’t alone. As Ezra read, thirteen guys stood in the crowd and explained. They translated. They “gave the meaning so the people understood what was read” (Nehemiah 8:8).

These thirteen Levites made sure this day of reading wasn’t boring. It’s a worthwhile model.